A/N: This is my first House fanfic and I'm just a little nervous; but I decided to go for it anyway! This first chapter is short, but I have a tendency to go for really long chapters, but I'm going to leave that up to you guys. So please read and let me know what you think.

Chapter One: Room 313

Dr. Allison Cameron looks at the envelope in her hands and sighs. Next day priority mail, urgent must be opened at once, written in bright orange marker all over the envelope. It was addressed to Dr. Gregory House; no surprise there. She glances at the 15 pink phone messages all from a Dr. Richard Ogden that had come for House in the last two hours, all marked urgent. Then she looks at the whiteboard and the instructions that had been written there since the first day she had started working for House. Number One: If you need me, call my cell or page me! Number Two: Never call my house! Number Three: Never come to my house!

It was then that she notices the phone ringing in his office, and she made a mad dash to answer it.

"Dr. House's office," she answers politely.

"This is Dr. Ogden, I'm assuming that Dr. House is still not there," he says gruffly.

"I'm sorry Dr. Ogden, he hasn't come in yet or called for that matter," she replies. Cameron is not sure why she's sorry, but the poor man sounds really flustered. "Have you tried his cell phone or pager?"

"More times than I care to remember," he says on a huff. "I don't mean to take this out on you, but it is a matter of life and death, A 12 year old boy's life hangs in the balance while I'm trying to reach Dr. House. As soon as you see or hear from him, I implore you to have him call me."

"Most certainly Dr. Ogden," Cameron assures him hanging up the phone. She's wondering who is the twelve year old boy as they have no case. Maybe House is working on a consult for Dr. Ogden. Maybe she should ask Dr. Wilson if he has seen or heard from House; she didn't want to have to talk to Dr. Ogden again without more information for the man.

As she was turning to leave the office and head off in search of Wilson; both him and House come walking down the hall in the company of Dr. Cuddy. Cameron turns to intercept them as they head into the conference room.

"Dr. House, I have several urgent messages from a Dr. Richard Ogden, as well as this overnight package," she interrupts him as he is about to say something to Cuddy. She can tell that they're having yet another verbal spat; probably about the fact that he's late again. "He says it's a matter of life and death, and that you need to call him at once."

Cameron sees all the blood drain from not only House's face, but Wilson's as well. She glances over at Cuddy and she's the woman looking questioningly at House. Wilson and House glance at each other and then House leans heavily on his cane and takes a deep breath.

"I'll call him from my office," he says quietly. He leaves the conference room and walks as quickly as he can into his office. Cuddy gives him a look and an exasperated sigh. She glances at Wilson but he shakes his head indicating that he's going to wait for House. She acknowledges his decision and leaves, heading for her own office. Cameron gives up on trying to figure out what is going on and makes coffee; she knows House is going to want some soon.

House indicates for Wilson to sit as he dials the phone number from the messages and puts it on speaker. He turns the volume down so that only he and Jimmy can hear.

"Plainsboro Pediatric Center," says a light female voice

"This is Dr. House for Dr. Ogden."

"Please hold Dr. House."

It seems to take forever before the phone is once again answered, this time by a gruff male voice. "Dr. House, you're not an easy man to catch up with. It is pretty much as you suspected; he has aplastic anemia." Dr. Ogden's voice is subdued knowing that the news he was delivering was harsh and knowing that the man on the other end of the line was dying a little, hearing that his diagnosis was correct.

"How bad?" House asks in a voice almost completely devoid of emotion.

"Severe; he's going to need a bone marrow transplant eventually. Obviously the sooner the better. Right now he needs to be hospitalized, a full work up done, blood transfusions, immunosuppressant therapy, and no I don't know what is causing it." The man says on a heavy sigh. "Are you going to bring him here?"

"No," House says looking at Wilson. James shakes his head agreeing with his decision. "I'll have him admitted here at PPTH and have you kept abreast of his treatment and progress."

"I understand your desire to have him remain close to you where you can be more involved in his treatment. Let's set up a phone conference for every Thursday afternoon so we can all stay abreast of things," Dr. Ogden suggested.

"Sounds good to me," House agrees and disconnects the call. He leans back in his chair, rubbing his forehead as if to ward off an unwanted headache.

"You want me to get this all set up?" Wilson asks, bring Houses' attention back to the present.

"Yeah," House replies in a monotone voice. Wilson looks at him and knows that this could very well shatter his friend. He knows House has no defenses built up for this scenario and wonders if he might actually be forced to violate the man's trust to save him.

"Don't even think about it James," House says to him. Jimmy looks up to see House staring at him with those electric blue eyes. "He's under your care and your's only. Now wouldn't be the time to put our friendship on the line." Jimmy knows he's dead serious on this, and he's afraid that he may be put in a situation where he will have to disregard what House wants.

"Alright, I'll get all the paperwork done and have a room ready when you get back," Wilson says standing up and heading for the door. I'll even run interference for you with Cuddy, not something I relish doing. How long before you get back?"

"I have to go pick him up and take the time to explain to everyone what is going on," House replies grabbing his cane and pushing himself up. "I want to take him to lunch as well so we can talk about this and what is going to happen."

It's a task Jimmy doesn't envy his best friend. He wishes he could go with him; hell he wishes anyone could go with him, but he knows House would reject help from any body under normal circumstances. And this was as far from normal as they could get. He watches the solitary figure limp down the hall, shoulders slumped and he sends up a little prayer that everything would work out in the end.

Dr. Wilson was standing at the nurses' station on the oncology floor filling out patient charts, wondering where in the hell was House. It was well past dinner time and the irascible man had still not shown up. James took a deep breath and let it out slowly; he couldn't blame House, this had to be destroying him.

"Audrey I'm going to grab a bite to eat," Wilson says to the night shift's head nurse. "Page me if House calls or show up."

"You expect Dr. House at the hospital at this time of night?" She asks him with a hint of amusement. Wilson smiles and shakes his head. If House was here at this late hour people would probably fall out from the shock alone.

Just as he was about put his pen down to leave, he felt Audrey tap him on the shoulder. He looked up at her quizzically, following the line of her gaze. The doors to the oncology floor had opened and walking through was House and a tall, lanky boy. House looked at him and Jimmy mouthed the words "Three thirteen", and turned his attention back to Audrey.

"Can you come with me to get this patient settled in?" He asks.

"Sure, but what is Dr. House doing with him?" She asks him as they approach the room that House and the young boy had disappeared into.

"Audrey, this is an extremely delicate situation," Wilson began. "I want you to inform the nurses on your shift that the patient in 313 is to be afford the utmost privacy. No gossiping about him or his family, no unwanted visitors and no one poking around. I want every effort to keep his identity under wraps."

Audrey looked at him as if he'd lost his mind. They had stopped outside the door to room 313 and she couldn't help herself in teasing him just a little; he was taking this way too seriously.

"So who are we harboring inside room 313? Is he a celebrity or a fugitive? I'm leaning more towards fugitive as he is in the company of Dr. House," she says to him with a smile as he shoulders open the door.

"Either of those options would be a lot easier to deal with than this," Wilson replies. Turning to face the occupants of the room, his eyes fall on the lanky boy, with the shock of dark brown hair and electric blue eyes. "Audrey I would like to introduce you to Braeden House."

If you want more, please let me know. The next chapter is in the works. Thanks for reading